Vasquez wins decisive re-election as police chief

San Angelo police chief Tim Vasquez hugged his father, Armando, late Saturday after he announced to his party attendees that he won the election. His father, teary-eyed, waited by his side until Tim Vasquez got down from the announcement to congratulate him. "I'm feeling like God just lifted me up, it's wonderful," Armando Vasquez said. "I'm very proud of him. Very very proud of my son."

Standard-Times photo by Cynthia Esparza

Defying the political expectations, San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez won outright a second term Saturday, collecting more than 52 percent of the vote against five challengers.

The victory avoids a runoff that had been widely expected, and it seemed to take Vasquez himself by surprise.

"I'm kind of blown away in amazement - and honored," he said after announcing the results to a throng of cheering supporters. "Humbled. Speechless."

Vasquez drew nearly 5,000 votes out of a total of more than 9,500, easily surpassing second-place finisher Ed Cunningham, who drew less than 19 percent.

Cunningham, among the last of the six police chief candidates to announce he would run for the job, played the role of dark horse, easily trumping four others for the right to face Vasquez in a runoff. That was only if the incumbent's share of the vote had slipped below 50 percent as results came in.

It never did.

"Close, but no cigar," said Cunningham, a Tom Green County reserve sheriff's deputy and former small-town police chief. "We were happy with the (second-place) outcome, but we didn't do quite as well as we hoped."

Four higher-profile candidates all finished well behind Cunningham, led by Jeff Davis' third-place showing. The retired San Angelo narcotics detective ran second to Vasquez in fundraising.

It quickly became clear Saturday that Davis did not have the widespread support he had claimed, as he polled just more than 1,000 votes - or 11.3 percent. Lt. Steve Mida, who challenged Vasquez in a close runoff in 2004, finished fourth, with 9.3 percent of the vote, while Sgt. Ed Kading and Assistant Lake and Park Police Chief Bruce Burkett lagged well behind - neither receiving 500 votes.

Davis is "very grateful and humbled by the support he received," said Jaime Padron, a member of his campaign, speaking on the candidate's behalf.

In the weeks leading up to the election, it was widely assumed Vasquez would easily outpoll the other candidates but that with so many opponents splitting the vote, he would be forced into a June runoff.

Those assumptions were shattered when the Tom Green County Elections Office released early voting results shortly after 7 p.m. showing Vasquez with a commanding 53.4 percent of the vote. Early voting included mail-in ballots and votes cast up to May 6.

"There was no way of knowing" what would happen, Vasquez said.

Vasquez said he fought back tears when the early-vote totals were released; his father and other friends and family members lost their own battles with their emotions after he proclaimed the final results about 10 p.m.

With 9,589 of the city's 53,080 registered voters casting ballots, turnout was 18.1 percent - exactly in line with that of the 2004 chief's race, in which Vasquez and Mida advanced to a runoff ahead of then-incumbent Joe Gibson.

"I would have liked to see a little more," said county Elections Administrator Vona McKerley, who last week had projected a 19 percent turnout based on early voting statistics. "I think chief of police is an important election for Tom Green County."

This year, there will be only one such election - much to most observers' surprise.